Against All Odds
by sparklysilvernoodlez
Summary: A Romeo & Juliet style Draco/Ginny fic....enjoy.


**OK this is kind of sweet...a Draco/Ginny Romeo+Juliet-type fic...hope you like it! Don't flame me please!!!**

**And don't ask why they're playing Muggle music at Hogwarts, because I don't know myself!!!**

*****

"Victoria? Can I borrow your hairbrush?" Ginny called to her friend. Victoria nodded and threw it to her. "Thanks."

She sat down in front of her dressing table mirror as she brushed her wavy red hair. This was going to be a great night, she could feel it. A masked ball. She'd never been to a masked ball before, but she'd heard they were fantastic.

"I like that dress," Victoria said, coming over to where Ginny sat. A tall, thin girl, Victoria was stunningly pretty, with long, straight dark hair and big blue eyes. She wore a black dress that contrasted sharply against her pale skin, with intricate silver stitching all over the bodice.

"Thanks," Ginny smiled. "I like yours too. What colour's your mask?"

"Silver," Victoria answered, holding up the silver sparkling mask. "Where's yours?"

"Oh - down here somewhere." Ginny rummaged around and held up a red satin mask, the same material as her dress, which was long and flowing with a tight waist and full skirt (like Satine's in Moulin Rouge, I love that dress! - A/N).

"Nice," Victoria commented. 

Ginny opened her makeup bag and began carefully applying a shiny red lipstick. She pouted in the mirror and turned to Victoria.

"How do I look?"

"Simply _gorgeous, _dahling," Victoria answered in a ridiculous snob-like accent. Ginny laughed.

"So who're you planning on getting your claws into tonight?"

"What?"

"Who do you want to get off with, stupid."

"_Oh - _I don't know. Your brother's not looking too bad lately."

"Ron?" Ginny laughed. "You'll have a job on. He's practically glued at the lips to Hermione Granger."

"Yeah, well, it's a masked ball, isn't it?" Victoria shrugged. "You're not supposed to tell your partner what you're wearing. That way they don't know who's who."

"Yeah, if you say so," Ginny said, opening her eyes wide to put on another layer of mascara - not that it mattered, the masks wouldn't be coming off until midnight anyway. "Right," she said, putting on her mask and pushing her hair back off her shoulders. "Shall we go, then?"

*****

When Ginny and Victoria got down to the Great Hall, there was a low buzz of excitement in the air. Hogwarts was holding a masked ball to celebrate its 1,000th anniversary, but the ball was only open to fifth, sixth and seventh years - the teachers didn't seem to trust anyone else.

"God, isn't this great?" Victoria whispered. "I love the decorations."

"Yeah...they're kind of pretty," Ginny mused, not really listening to Victoria at all. She was too busy looking around, eyeing up the talent. People really did look different in masks - she couldn't tell who was who at all.

At that moment, Albus Dumbledore stood up from his seat at the High Table. There were a few teachers there, but none of them, Ginny was disappointed to see, were wearing masks. She supposed it was so that there wasn't any embarrassment if students asked any of them to dance.

"Welcome," he said, spreading his arms wide. "I trust that you have all remembered your masks...anyone not wearing one will be asked to leave, as that is the whole point of this ball! Happy birthday Hogwarts...let the party begin!"

Balloons, glitter and streamers appeared from nowhere and fell through the air. Music suddenly started (Pink's _Get the Party Started_), and everyone started milling around, chatting, laughing, and dancing.

A boy in a black mask came over to Victoria, and she soon disappeared off with him, giving Ginny an apologetic smile. Ginny shrugged as if to say, "It's OK," and hadn't been standing alone for long when a voice behind her made her jump. _Get the Party Started _had just finished, and another song was starting - Kylie Minogue's _Can't Get You Out of My Head._

"Care to dance?"

"What?"

Ginny turned to see a tall boy in black trousers and a matching jacket, a blue shirt and a blue mask. His blond hair was slicked back, and she had a sneaky feeling that she knew who this was - Draco Malfoy.

"Do you want to dance?" he repeated. He clearly didn't know who she was. But how could she say no? She wasn't supposed to know who he was, after all.

"Yeah, OK," she smiled, and they found an empty spot on the dance floor. Ginny never would have thought it, but Draco wasn't a bad dancer.

They danced for a good hour, and Ginny was actually enjoying herself. Draco was proving his non-obnoxious side by cracking jokes every so often, and Ginny couldn't help laughing. 

A slow song came on (_Angels _by Robbie Williams), and Draco wound his arms around Ginny's waist as they swayed slowly to the music. As Ginny closed her eyes and leaned her head against his chest, something suddenly struck her.

_I'm in love._

_Oh. My. God._

_I'm in love with _Draco Malfoy. _This is weird. This is unreal. This is..._

She stopped thinking at that moment, though, because suddenly she was looking up at Draco's masked face, and then their lips met in a long, sweet kiss.

"You're beautiful," Draco whispered in her ear. She laughed softly.

"You don't even know what I look like. Not properly, anyway."

"So? I like what I see so far," he said, twisting a strand of her hair around his finger. "And _you _are beautiful. Your personality. Your laugh. Everything about you captivates me."

Ginny couldn't believe this. Was this really Draco Malfoy, holding her close and whispering sweetness into her ear?

"Thank you," she whispered back, as he bent his head and kissed her again.

"Let's go somewhere else," Draco murmured. 

"Why?"

"Well...I _could _show you here, but..."

_"Oh." _Ginny felt herself blush; she looked up at Draco and saw that he was smiling. "Where shall we go, though? The school's full of all the younger kids..."

"I know where we can go. The rose garden, behind the greenhouses...it's very romantic."

Ginny didn't ask how he knew that it was romantic; instead, she smiled, slipped her hand into his, and they left the Great Hall.


End file.
